Infinitesimal: How a Dangerous Mathematical Theory Shaped the Modern World (Scientific American/Farrar, Straus and Giroux), by Amir Alexander

In 1632 an elite panel of Jesuits condemned a mathematical
concept they saw as pernicious: the idea that a continuous line is composed of
distinct, infinitely tiny points. To Jesuits and conservative thinkers, the existence
of the infinitely tiny shattered their picture of a rational, ordered cosmos
(and political systems ostensibly modeled on that order) by elevating
uncertainty and paradox. But the theory survived, giving rise to calculus and
engineering breakthroughs that made possible electric motors, radio and
airplanes. Historian Amir Alexander writes with understanding of all actors in
the controversy. He asserts that Protestant England rose to world prominence
because it was faster to adopt the new mathematics than Roman Catholic Europe,
thereby becoming “a model for political pluralism and economic success.”
England’s economic ascendance was also based on such old-fashioned ideas as the
slave trade and exploitation of conquered territories, yet Alexander makes a
good case for the importance of ideas in shaping history.

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David Luhrssen is the Arts & Entertainment Editor of the Shepherd Express. He is author of several books and has been published in Historically Speaking, History Today, the Journal of American History and other journals.

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